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Kelp Forests and Coral Gardens
Amanda Dougherty
Geography of Coral Reef and Kelp Forest
Locations Worldwide
Climate & Physical Conditions
Light
Enough to support photosynthesis. Growing in
surface water with depths ranging from a few meters
to 100 meters.
Temperature Needs
Coral needs temperatures > 20 degrees C usually
ranging from 23 to 25 degrees C.
Kelp can grow in temperatures < 10 degrees C in the
winter to rising above 20 degrees C in the summer
months
Chemical Conditions Needed
 Oxygen is needed for both coral and kelp
to grow.
 Salt
 Kelp can grow in areas that have less salinity
although salt is still a necessity.
 Coral Reefs can only grow in areas where
there is a stable salinity level. Anything below
a level of 27% can be lethal.
 This can be caused by heavy rainfall or runoffs
Biology
 Coral reefs and kelp beds are the most
productive and diverse of all ecological systems.
There are over 600 different kinds of coral and over
2000 species of fish living in a newly formed reef.
Over 100 species of worms and over 75 species of fish
can live on 1 coral head.
Kelp beds are estimated to home 800 species of
animals and about 130 species of plants and other
photosynthetic organisms.
Biology
Human Influences
Kelp is harvested for food and fertilizer
Coral reefs are harvested for decorations
Coral reefs are also heavily fished for food
and aquarium trades. Fish are now
becoming rare.
Destructive means of fishing using
dynamite and poison
Human Influences
References
Google.com
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&u
m=1&q=coral+reef+decorations&sa=N&st
art=42&ndsp=21
Molles Jr., 2010 Ecology: Concepts and
Applications, 5th edition. WCB/McGraw
Publishers, Boston.